Currently, as the applications of Internet technology become more and more wide, a lot of daily work and entertainment of people are performed on a network by a browser. Usually, the network uses HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) protocol to transmit data, and then exhibit data to a user by the browser in the form of a Web page so as to be browsed by the user. However, the HTTP protocol is stateless, that is, a server does not know what the user did at a previous visit, which seriously obstructs the realization of interactive Web application programs.
For example, in a typical online shopping scenario, assuming that the user browses a few pages and buy a box of biscuits and two bottles of beverages, at the time of the checkout, because the HTTP is stateless, the server will know nothing about what the user has bought without additional means. Herein, Cookie (also known as a small text file or a cookie) is one of the additional means that is used to bypass the stateless of the HTTP. Cookies are information temporarily stored in a computer by the server, so that the server may identify the computer. When the website is browsed, a Web server may first send and store data to a computer of a client, and Cookies may help the user of the client record a typed text or some of options on a website. When the user visits the same website again, the Web server may first check the presence of Cookies data left last time. If present, the Web server may judge the user based on the contents of Cookie and send specific Web contents. In the above example, the server can set or read information contained in the Cookies, so as to maintain the state of the user in a session with the server. For example, in the above shopping scenario, when the user buys the first product, the server may send the user the page together along with a piece of Cookie where information about the product is recorded. When the user visits another page, the browser may send the Cookie to the server. The server may know what the user selected before. If the user continues to choose and buy the beverages, the server may add new product information to the original piece of Cookie. At the checkout, the server may read the sent Cookie accordingly.
Another typical application of the Cookie is the case that, at the time of logining a website, the user may be often requested by the website to enter a user name and a password, and the user can choose “Auto Login Next Time”. If the “Auto Login Next time” is chosen, when the same site is visited next time, the user may login without entering the user name and the password. This is because the server has sent the Cookie containing the login credentials (a certain encryption form of the user name and the password) to the user's hard disk. At next login, (if the Cookie has not expired) the browser may send the Cookie to the server to verify the credentials, so that the user may login without entering the user name and the password.
However, as for the current browsers, only one global Cookie for a same webpage (website) can be saved in a browser. At the time of logining an account, the information of the account and password is transmitted via the Cookie, but this manner does not support a function of multiple-account open such that multiple accounts cannot be loginned simultaneously. If the Cookie information of different accounts is all saved in the global Cookie, the information of different accounts may bring the confusion and mutual influence, and a multi-account login for a user also cannot be successfully realized. Therefore, the user account login means of the current browser is not convenient for a multi-account user to use a browser, thereby disadvantageously affecting the use experience of the multiple-account user when using the browser.